Wow...it's already been half a month that I've been at Vandy. Guess I'm really good at putting things off, it just seems a natural skill. Come to think of it, I've had this account for over six months now.

Addressing the impetus for me finally starting posts, it will help with my writing (I guess'). It's also a thing that I'm supposed to do now that I'm a part of InsideVandy.com, a new multimedia webpage that Vanderbilt Media launched this year (so this blog will also be available there). An ambitious project, InsideVandy.com is supposed to be the culmination of the Vandy papers, magazines, radio station, and TV channel.

And now, the story of my life since August 15.

I came down to Vandy early, as I was one of the people going to the media training retreat. It was the first plane ride by myself, which is somewhat pathetic now that I think about it. It was easy enough, and I slept most of the way through (actually, if I were to really start this story at the beginning of the 15, you would read about me frantically packing, but that story is not anything interesting except for the string of swear words let loose when I ran out of bubble wrap and when I had to constantly repack things to fit) since I didn't get any sleep the night before.

My flight departed from LA at eight, and I arrived in Nashville at two. For an international airport, Nashville is fairly small and non-frantic. Then again, I'm comparing it to LAX (which now reminds me: the attempted terrorist hijacks were a couple days before I left, and they were on the European flights back to LAX. When I was waiting at my gate, I would hear something along the lines of "Please remember, liquids and gels are NOT allowed on the airplanes. Please dispose of them before you get on board." every two minutes. "Random " searches were also conducted before we got on board, but random here is defined as one guy glancing at everyone and picking out the people that he wanted searched. Of course I was searched, since I had my big ol' hiking backpack stuffed with random things like my keyboard.). It was also the first time that I had to use one of those carts for my three big-ass suitcases.

I then followed the signs to find a taxi. I got outside to where the taxi's were parked and found out that most of them, of course, were Indian. The first taxi was a minivan, so I decided to head towards the second one. When I passed the first one though, the guy asked me if I was needing a taxi. I told him yes, and that I would be the only passenger. He automatically responded in his accent, "Same price, SAME PRICE!" As if on queue, the trunk to his vehicle magically opened and he proceeded to load my luggage in the trunk. Some other attendant took my cart, and after that, it was off to Vandy.

Actually, I'll continue later, I'm hungry now.